Cooking appliances, particularly self-contained electrically heated cooking surfaces, commonly referred to as electric griddles, or grills have been in use for some time. Examples in the prior art are: U.S. Design No. D436,796 and U.S. Pat. No. 3,003,410. The typical construction of a planar griddle is a flat cooking surface and legs or a base to maintain the heated element above a table or other work surface.
Because such cooking surfaces are often used for cooking meats or other products which generate fluids, most often oils, during cooking, it is desirable to remove the fluids during the cooking process to minimize spatter. Since the cook surface is very hot, it is safer to constantly remove during the cooking process instead of at the end, there is a need to provide flow control for the fluids, to direct them to a safe reservoir.
After usage, it is beneficial to be able to fold the unit for compact storage.
Each of these requirements and the combination of hem create challenges in providing a unitary compact and safe structure.
The present disclosure addresses each of these challenges in a synergistic way.